Truth and Consequences
by Bob The Other Zombie
Summary: It's been six months since Sirius cheated on Remus, leaving him devastated, and Remus still refuses to be in the same room as him. Sirius is determined to win him back by any means necessary, including a manipulative game of Truth or Dare, but what happens when a magical binding spell on the game gets things completely out of hand? RLSB. Rated M to be safe. One-shot.


**A/N: Just a little thing I wrote for my own amusement. Probably will get a bit (or more than a bit) OOC. Credit goes to The Insulting Detective and her lovely fic "You Do or You Dare" for the premise, although I hope to write a much different fanfiction. **

**Warning: Noncon and ambiguously consensual touching, kissing, and nearly more, also a lot of stubbornness and silliness. I suppose if you really wanted to, you could consider this in the same universe as A Proposal...**

"Moony!"

Remus smiled as Lily and James opened the door for him. Peter stood in the hallway behind them, peeking over their shoulders to see who had arrived.

"Lily! James! Peter!" Remus said, embracing all three. "I brought some macaroni."

"Hey, thanks!" said James. "I love macaroni! And so does..."

Lily elbowed him. "Hush!"

"What?" Remus said. "Who else will?"

"Nobody, nobody at all!" Lily said, smiling brightly.

"My stomach!" finished James at the same time. "And so will my stomach! I really love macaroni!"

Remus looked between them. "Right." he said. This better not be what he thought it was...but they were his friends, they wouldn't do that to him.

"Shall we move to the living room?" James said. "Here, Moony, I'll take your macaroni to the kitchen..."

"Don't eat it all!" called Lily.

"And bring me some butterbeer!" said Peter.

Lily, Remus, and Peter took their seats in the living room. For a moment, they all sat in silence, content to be in each other's company again. It had only been a few months since they graduated, but already, Remus felt as though he was drifting away from them. He missed the Marauders terribly, well, most of them, anyways.

"You and James seem to be doing well." Remus said, smiling at Lily.

Lily looked away. "Well..."

"They're on a break." said Peter.

Remus's eyes widened. "What?''

"Yeah, thanks, Peter." Lily said. "We were going a little too fast for a while there...getting a little too hot and heavy. I just thought we needed some time off to cool down."

"He's crazy for you." said Remus.

"Yeah, but no healthy relationship moves that quickly." Lily said. "We've only been going out for about six months. In the few weeks after graduation, we went straight from second base to..."

"Oh! Lily! Too much information!" Remus said.

"I was going to say discussing moving in together." said Lily. "And anyways, you're one to talk."

"When have I ever done anything like that?"

"You and Sirius..." She faltered, seeing his expression.

"Yeah, when you and Padfoot were dating we heard about that stuff every day!" Peter said. "And it was disgusting, too!" He made a face.

Remus dug his nails into his palms to get himself back under control and forced a smile more commonly seen on serial killers. "I don't want to talk about that. How's your new job, Wormtail?"

Peter happily prattled on for a few minutes about his new job at a new ice cream place in Diagon Alley before James reentered the room with a few butterbeers. Remus saw Lily shoot James a worried look, and James whispered something in her ear that Remus couldn't hear from where he was sitting. Although she smiled, Remus could still see her eyebrows knitting together in worry. When she noticed him watching her, however, she visibly relaxed and rejoined the conversation.

A few minutes passed in happy conversation before the loud roar of a motorcycle engine outside the house interrupted them. Remus laughed in the sudden silence. "Muggles and their land motors." Everyone was staring him guiltily. "No." he said, feeling his worst fears being confirmed. "No, you didn't."

"It's a Marauder party, mate..." James said apologetically.

"No." Remus said. "I am not doing this. I told you I wasn't ready to see him!" He stalked out of the living room.

"Remus, wait!" Lily said, chasing after him. "Don't you think it's been long enough?"

"Please, Moony, just for tonight!" said James from behind her.

"No, no, no, no- AUGHH!" He ripped open the door and found himself face-to-face with the very man he was hoping to avoid.

"Nice to see you too, Moony." said Sirius. "Wow, James, you've got such good service I didn't even need to knock!"

Remus pushed past him and walked out into the cold night.

"Remus, wait!" James said, running after him. Remus kept walking, hunched against the cold. "Remus, come on! It's too cold to leave now! They're predicting a blizzard in a couple of hours!"

"I'll Apparate home then." Remus growled.

"You can't Apparate home when you're like this." James said. "You'll splinch yourself."

"I don't care." said Remus. "I'd rather be cut in two than go back there with..."

"Come on, Remus!" James said. "Isn't it past time you and Sirius worked things out?"

"Worked things out?" sputtered Remus. "I have nothing to work out with him! He's the one who needs to work things out with me!"

"Moony..."

"No, I'm seri- being honest! If he wants to work things out with me, I am happy to hear it! But I am not going to start anything!"

"He says he's tried, but you won't listen." James said. He ran a hand through his hair. "Come on, Moony, we haven't seen each other in months and I'm tired of dealing with this every time we try and get together. Please just stay here, for one night. There's no way for you to go home, anyways, unless you take Sirius's bike, and I know you don't want to do that."

"Floo." Remus said.

James smirked. "I'll hide it all."

"Fine." said Remus. "But I'm not going to talk to him."

His conviction, however, was severely tested the minute he walked back into the kitchen. James left to go find Lily, and Peter, who had been chatting with Sirius, followed, leaving Remus alone with Sirius and Sirius's first butterbeer bottle.

"Moony!" Sirius said, throwing an arm around him.

Remus shrugged him off. "No." he said, and began to leave.

"Come on, Moony!" Sirius said, following him into the living room. "You won't even talk to me?"

"We have nothing to talk about." Remus snapped.

"Then listen to me!" Sirius said.

"What can you possibly say?"

"Moony, please-"

"No." Remus said. "There's nothing you can say to excuse what you did. I'm not going to listen to you."

"Remus-"

"No."

Sirius smirked suddenly. "Fine." he said. "Then I'll have to make you." He swept out of the room, leaving Remus feeling distinctly unsettled.

* * *

James walked into the living room to find Sirius messing with a colorful box of some sort. "What's that, Pads?" James asked.

"Nothing." Sirius said. "A wizarding version of a Muggle party game. Got it in Diagon Alley."

"Ooh, what's the game?" said James, sitting next to him.

"Truth or Dare." Sirius said. "You go around in the circle, and one person either asks the other a question they must answer truthfully or dares them to do something embarrassing, based on whether they choose a truth or a dare. Only catch is, with the magical version, it's magically binding, and if you refuse to answer a question or do a dare, there are consequences."

"Like what?" James asked.

"That's for us to decide." Sirius said. "Or rather, me. I was thinking, refuse one and you have to kiss the person, refuse two, and it's a full-out snogging session with tongue, refuse three, and you have to shag them, any way they want."

"Padfoot!" James said. "Most of us are males!"

"All the more reason not to refuse them." Sirius said. There was a glint in his eye James knew all too well.

"Sirius, this isn't about Moony, is it?" James asked cautiously. "If you push him too far, he'll never forgive you."

"Of course not." Sirius said. "I have no way of even guaranteeing I'm the one daring him, do I?"

"Fine." James said. "I'll go convince Moony- and Lily, for that matter- to join. It's high time you guys cleared this thing up anyways. Just...go easy on him, please?"

"Can't go any other way." Sirius said. Once James had left, he flipped through the instructions book, muttering the right incantations under his breath.

* * *

After dinner (in which they managed to polish off most of his macaroni), Remus sat in the circle with the other four in the living room, feeling nervous. He had chosen to sit on the floor to stay as far from Sirius as possible. Once again, however, his attempts would be foiled.

"Okay." Sirius said, settling in on the couch. He held a curious-looking orb in his hand. "First thing we have to do is pass this around the circle. We all say our names and tap it with our wand, and that binds us to this game." He drew out his wand and poked the orb with it. "Sirius Black." Then, he passed it on to James.

"James Potter." James said, performing the same action and giving it to Peter.

"Peter Pettigrew." Peter said.

"Lily...Lily Evans." Lily said with a sigh.

Remus hesitated as she placed it in his hands. Everyone was looking at him. "Remus Lupin." he said at last, and passed it back to Sirius, avoiding the other man's eyes as he did so.

"Welcome to Truth or Dare." said a voice, and everyone jumped before realizing it was the orb. "The rules and consequences are as follows." It quickly explained the rules. Remus ground his teeth as he heard the consequences he doubted that was programmed into the game. The voice paused a moment before adding, "The order of game will be reverse alphabetical. Sirius Black will ask Remus Lupin, Remus Lupin will ask Peter Pettigrew, Peter Pettigrew will ask Lily Evans, Lily Evans will ask James Potter, and James Potter will ask Sirius Black. Is everyone satisfied with this order?"

"No!" Remus said, standing up. His pulse pounded in his ears. There was no way he was going to let that conniving Black give him some awful dare! Or worse, make him tell the truth...

"Remus." James said. "I looked at this game before we played it. It won't allow any truths or dares that are unreasonable."

"I repeat, is everyone satisfied with this order?"

Remus stared at James like James had just sold him to He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named and reluctantly sat down.

"Yes, everyone is satisfied." Sirius said to the orb, watching Remus.

"Then let Sirius Black begin!"

Remus buried his head in his hands. "Moony, Truth or Dare?" Sirius said.

"Truth." he said. Maybe Sirius would go easy on him for the first round.

"Why won't you talk to me?" Sirius asked.

Remus balled his fists. He crossed the circle and pecked Sirius on the lips, keeping his mouth firmly closed. Then, he quickly returned to his spot, face burning.

"Peter, Truth or Dare." Remus said.

Lily looked between Remus and Sirius. "Really, this isn't right-"

"Truth or Dare, Peter." Remus said. He was not going to give Sirius the satisfaction of giving up.

Peter giggled, seemingly unaware of the tension in the room. "Dare!"

"Fine, I want you to...dance around the room while Jelly-Legs jinxed singing the Hogwarts theme song."

An earsplitting three minutes later, Peter returned to the circle. "Lily, Truth or Dare?"

"Dare." Lily said. Sirius and James wolf-whistled.

"Strip down to your bra." said Peter.

"Eww." Lily said. She kissed Peter on the lips before turning to James. "Truth or Dare?"

"Dare, obviously." said James.

"Fine." Lily said. "Let me think...ooh, I've got it. I dare you to go up and get those boxers your mom got you for your birthday, and wear them instead of pants for the rest of the game."

"Aww, really?" James said. Lily nodded, giggling, and he left. In a few minutes, he returned with the most ridiculous pair of boxers Remus had ever seen- they were shiny, reflective red, with sparkly golden Snitches all over them. Remus, Lily, Peter, and Sirius all guffawed as James sat down again.

"How come we never saw those, Prongs?" Sirius asked, leaning back into the couch.

"Shut up." James said. "She was out shopping and thought they were cute."

Lily was nearly incoherent with laughter. "He wore them- one of the first times we- and he said he thought it would impress me-"

"Lils!" James said. Remus wondered if his red cheeks were from him blushing or the reflection of his boxers on his face.

"I'm sorry." Lily said. "But you did say this game was supposed to be embarrassing, didn't you?"

James stared at her, openmouthed. "First you take a dare, and now you do this! What has gotten into you, woman?"

"Maybe you've rubbed off on me." Lily said, raising her eyebrows.

"Oi! Stop flirting!" Sirius said. "We're playing a game here, we have no time for your coupleness!"

"Right." James said. "Fine. Well, then, do I even need to ask? Padfoot, I dare you to lick Wormtail's neck."

Sirius bounded up and crossed the room, coming uncomfortably close to Remus as he did so. He leaned down to Peter and slowly stuck out his tongue, letting it linger for a long time on Peter's skin. Peter's expression was an odd mixture of disgusted and amused. Then, Sirius's tongue trailed all the way up Peter's neck to his ear, before he pulled away and went to sit down again.

"Moony, Truth or Dare?" he said.

Remus groaned- he had nearly forgotten that it was his turn. "Dare." He'd much rather do something humiliating than be asked another question he didn't want to answer.

"Fine." Sirius said, and, from the look in his eyes, Remus knew he wasn't going to say anything good. "I dare you...to do seven minutes in heaven with me, only, instead of kissing, we'll be talking."

Remus clenched his jaw. "Sirius..." Why did he have to be so persistent?

"Come on, Moony." Sirius said. "Please?"

"And that's not against the rules of repeat questions?" Remus said, looking pleadingly to James.

James fidgeted with his glasses. "Well, technically that was a dare..."

"Fine." Remus said. He made his way to his feet and stood in front of Sirius. Then, he placed his hands on the couch behind Sirius to hold himself up and leaned in, ignoring the disappointment in Sirius's eyes. He kissed Sirius forcefully, liberally using his teeth to try and communicate to Sirius how wrong this whole situation was and how angry he was. Before the session was up, he made sure to quickly snake his tongue into Sirius's mouth and out again so it would count as a proper snog. Then, he straightened. The rest of the group was staring at him.

"Remus...?" James said.

"Right, right." Remus said, hurrying back to his seat. "Peter, Truth or Dare?"

"Hmm..." Peter said. "Dare!"

Remus sighed. He no longer had the energy for this game. "Why don't you...owl Professor McGonagall and tell her that now that you are graduated, you are allowed to say that she is the kindest, sexist witch you have ever known and you are completely and irrevocably in love with her."

James, Lily, and Sirius burst out laughing. Peter looked horrified. "But- but what if she believes me?"

"That's the point!" Remus said. "Now do it!"

"Wait, wait, let us help write the letter, we have to make this good!" said Lily.

After a few minutes of writing the letter, they sent it off with the Potter family owl. Remus watched it go, smiling. That, at least, had improved his mood. He turned back to the game as Peter asked,

"Lily, Truth or Dare."

"Truth." Lily said. "Not making the same mistake twice."

Peter scrunched up his face. "Have you ever kissed another girl?"

"No, I have not." Lily said. "James?"

"Dare." said James.

"All right, since we're on the topic of same-sex kissing...I dare you to kiss Sirius."

James did so with joking enthusiasm. Clearly, this had been some sort of private fantasy of Lily's- she was turning pink as she watched them closely. Finally, they broke apart, and a lump grew in Remus's throat. They were almost back to his turn...and the consequences this time were much worse than kissing...

"Pads, I dare you to lick the bowl of macaroni clean." James said. "No hands, no utensils."

Sirius brightened. "Right now?"

"No, do it tomorrow morning at breakfast." James said. "Better light for pictures of your cheesy face."

And just like that, it was Remus's turn. "Dare." he said, hoping Sirius wouldn't come up with a way to rephrase his earlier dare.

Sirius considered it. "All right, I dare you to...sit on the couch with me and tell me why you won't forgive me."

Remus looked desperately towards the orb. "You've already given me that"

"Not quite." Sirius said.

Remus buried his face in his hands. "I- I- no!"

"Then you'll shag me, Moony?" Sirius said.

"No!" Remus said. He turned to the others. "You can't let this happen!"

"It's not against the rules." James said, although he looked between the two of them anxiously. "I'm sorry-"

"Remus," Sirius said, "Are you really so against telling me what's wrong that you would shag me? Not that I don't want to, but-"

"Shut up, Sirius." Remus said. "I'm not going to shag you!"

"Then you'll talk to me?"

"I'm not going to do that either!" Remus said. "I can't, I-" His breaths came in short gasps as he tried to find a way out. He knew if he told Sirius the truth, Sirius would never leave him alone. On the other hand, if he just accepted the consequence, he might be able to distance himself afterwards, but Sirius would probably use it as an opportunity to try to get him to talk, and Remus wasn't so sure he could distance himself from Sirius again after shagging him...

"Remus." Sirius said, voice harder now." You have to choose."

"Give me a minute." Remus said, mind racing between the two possibilities.

"Just talk to him, Moony, how bad can it be?" James said.

"Yeah, get it over with." said Peter.

Lily bit her lip in worry, watching Remus.

"Remus Lupin, you must choose, or the choice will be taken from you." the orb said.

Remus looked at it in horror. "Did it just say..."

"Yeah, if you refuse to choose the game will choose for you." Sirius said. His face was stony. "Magically binding game, you know."

"Remus Lupin." said the orb.

"I get it, I get it!" Remus said. He took a deep breath to clear his mind, but both options still seemed equally disastrous. "Fine." he said at last. Sirius looked hopeful. "I'm quitting the game. I hope you guys enjoy your mutual humiliation." He stood and walked out of the room, leaving a stunned silence in his wake.

* * *

Remus barged into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. He took a deep breath, eyes closed tightly, to try to calm himself down. Why had he agreed to this? Why did he think it would ever turn out well? Outside, he heard Peter's low rumbling and Lily's high-pitched shriek of disdain. He felt strangely satisfied. At least someone else was sharing in his humiliation.

Lily's shrieks were increasing in volume. Remus splashed some cold water on his face and cracked open the door to listen.

"-isgusting!" Lily shouted. "I'm not doing that! I quit, too! It's past midnight, anyways!"

Peter and Sirius laughed while James scolded them for "driving all the girls away." _Real nice, _Remus thought as he heard Lily's footsteps coming towards him.

He exited the bathroom to meet her. "What did he do?" he asked.

Lily didn't even stop walking, cheeks as red as the Gryffindor Quidditch uniforms. "A stupid boy prank." she snapped. "Peter dared me to...lick strawberry syrup off of James's face."

Remus burst out laughing as he followed her. He couldn't help himself. "Really? Wormtail dared you to do that?"

"Yes, the lovely Wormtail." Lily said, storming up the stairs. "He knew James and I were on a break and he still dared us to anyways!"

"He probably just wanted to snog you." said Remus.

"Well neither he nor James are getting any of my tongue for a while now!" Lily said, ignoring Remus's nauseated expression. "And you! Why can't you act like a bloody adult and just talk to Sirius so we won't have to deal with your drama anymore! I mean, honestly, I know he cheated on you with a girl-"

"It wasn't just one girl." Remus said. "It was a girl and a guy, when I walked in on it. And those weren't the only encounters he'd had, if Marlene Mckinnon is to be believed."

Lily stared at him, open-mouthed. "But- that arse!" she said. "He- he really- I mean, I always knew Sirius was bad, but I thought he'd stopped doing that kind of stuff when you and he started dating. Oh, Remus, I didn't know, I'm sorry!" She unexpectedly hugged Remus around the waist. "And here we've been practically forcing you to see him, and have a conversation with him-"

Remus patted her awkwardly. "Yeah, it's been kind of hard, but you guys didn't know-"

Lily pulled away. "But then why can't you just talk to him about it and tell him you want him to stay away from you? He obviously wants to tell you something. Would it really be that painful to listen to what he says?"

"Well..." Remus said. "You know how charming he is. He'd find a way into my good graces, get me to trust him, and then he'd just do the same thing all over again."

"How could he do that unless you and him dated again?"

Remus forced a smile, all the while thinking about how Lily was too smart for her own good. "Of course we wouldn't date again, I have no desire whatsoever to go through that, but there are ways to hurt a friend, you know?"

Lily gave him a piercing look. "Right." she said. "No desire whatsoever."

"Yeah." Remus said, hoping he sounded convincing. "I hate him, obviously." Frantically, he tried to think of something to say to prove it, but he couldn't come up with him and Lily was watching him with that I-see-right-through-you look. Remus tugged at his collar. "Well, uh, it's late. We should probably try and get some sleep."

"As if we can with them carrying on downstairs." Lily said, and, on cue, loud peals of laughter accompanied by some sort of noisemaker floated upstairs from the living room. "But might as well try. Good night, Remus."

"Good night, Lily." Remus said. He fled into his room and shut the door quickly. He'd had enough of personal questions and embarrassing situations for one night.

* * *

Remus's sleep that night was restless and full of dreams, an inordinate amount of which featured Sirius shirtless. Dogs chased him to the statue of a giant man, where he fell to his knees. He would see the outline of a male body, sometimes his own, sometimes Sirius's, sometimes cartoon or the diagram they had to memorize in DADA to know weak spots, but the head was never visible, or it was replaced by a sphere of blinding white light. The words "magically binding" were scattered throughout every dream, appearing written on walls or in conversation. And sometimes, the white light would dissipate, leaving behind a familiar head on a familiar body, and then the worst part of his dreams began...

Remus woke up at three in the morning in a cold sweat. The orb...and Sirius...what was wrong with him? Could the game be doing this? No, Remus decided, he was just shaken up by seeing (and snogging) his ex for the first time in months. He didn't actually want to...perform the act he'd been performing in the dream, nor did the words "magically binding" have any significance beyond him hearing that phrase last night. After all, even Sirius wouldn't be so cruel as to force him into something like that...would he?

* * *

Things only got worse at breakfast the next morning. Remus struggled to remember if Sirius had always been this...distracting. He found himself mesmerized by Sirius's sparkling eyes, his booming laugh, his muscular frame, the way his tongue moved over Remus's bowl of macaroni...

"Problem, Moony?" Sirius said, smirking, and Remus realized he'd been staring.

"Um, no." Remus said, returning to his waffles. As soon as was socially acceptable, Remus stood up and announced he was on dish duty. He quickly collected everyone's plates and left for the kitchen.

Although Remus was by no means a neat freak, dishwashing had always been a favorite activity of his since he grew out of his no-showers phase. It was a habit he inherited from his parents- whenever they were worried about something (like a certain werewolf son), they would clean dishes the Muggle way. Remus, who liked both clean dishes and the time it gave him to think, quickly adopted it once he stopped resenting his parents for getting him to help out around the house. It impressed your hosts, especially when there was macaroni licking to be done. Remus frowned at the empty bowl as he wiped it with a towel. There was hardly a speck of cheese left- Sirius had really licked it clean. Of course, thinking about Sirius's show at breakfast this morning for some reason led him back to his dreams last night, and to what else Sirius could do with his tongue...

"Whatcha doing, Moony?" Sirius asked, right in his ear.

"Playing Quidditch, what does it look like I'm doing?" Remus said, hoping Sirius would just leave him alone.

Of course, no such luck. "What are you worried about, Moony?" Sirius asked.

"I- what are you talking about?"

"Come on, Moony, I've known you since you sang soprano. I know you like to clean things whenever you're upset. So what's wrong?" When Remus didn't answer, Sirius leaned even closer, until Remus could feel his breath, warm and moist, on the back of his neck. "Worried about your dare?"

"Sirius, stop!" Remus said, turning around with the bowl held in front of him protectively. "It was just a dumb game, and I quit! It's over!"

"Really?" Sirius snatched the bowl from Remus. "Oh, looks like I missed a spot." he said, and proceeded to take care of it, eyes on Remus the whole time.

Remus swallowed. "Look, I don't know what you're trying to do here, but I quit the game. You can't do anything to me now."

"I don't know." Sirius said, reaching around Remus to place the bowl back on the counter. Remus shifted uncomfortably as their chests came into contact. "Did you see Lily this morning? Almost went through a whole bottle of strawberry syrup on her waffles."

"So?" Remus said, ducking away from Sirius. "Maybe she had a craving for it." He grabbed a plate from the stack of dry dishes and began looking for its cabinet.

Sirius's laughter followed him. "What's wrong, Remus, afraid to be near me?"

"Just wondering why Lily's tastes matter." Remus said, struggling to keep his voice even. He placed the plate onto a neat stack of other plates and picked up the salad dish, the one furthest away from Sirius.

Sirius watched him, smiling. "Well, they wouldn't, if it was just that. But every time Wormtail talked, she just couldn't..stop...staring..." he said, drawing closer. Remus sidestepped him and grabbed another dish.

"It's just a coincidence." Remus said. "She's tired, she's not thinking clearly."

"Maybe." Sirius said amiably. "But the game did say magically binding, didn't they? Maybe quitting isn't as easy as you think."

Remus's throat felt suddenly dry. He grabbed two dishes at random and stacked them up in the appropriate cabinets. "Are you saying the game is going to force us to make a choice, even though we quit?"

"Why?" Sirius asked, laughing that rich laugh of his that made Remus shiver. "Are you feeling any urges to...talk to me this morning? Any dreams about our...conversation?" He snatched for Remus as Remus came back to retrieve another plate, but Remus ducked out of his reach.

"Of course not." Remus said, but his voice cracked and gave him away. "And I'm not worried about anything, either. What would I have to be worried about?"

He turned around again and sighed in resignation. The last few dishes had mysteriously relocated themselves behind Sirius's back when he wasn't looking. He was just going to have to play smart. Remus dodged left and grabbed one on Sirius's right, but unfortunately Sirius predicted that and used his movement to trap Remus between Sirius and the counter. Remus looked up straight into Sirius's dark eyes. He barely managed to keep a look of detached disdain on his face as Sirius leaned in, pressing him back into the counter.

"You're worried that you're going to feel an uncontrollable urge to shag me or tell me what's wrong over the next twenty-four hours and you're not going to be able to decide which or how far you go in the activity." Sirius said.

"No, I, no, of course not!" Remus said, shoving him away. "Now get off me!"

"Do you want me to?" Sirius said.

"Yes!" Remus said, face flushing. "Now please- go- away!" With an almighty shove, he managed regain his personal space. "Look, Sirius, I'm sorry, mate, but I have no urge to- to shag you or whatever else." Then a thought occurred to him. "Twenty-four hours? Why twenty-four hours?"

Sirius grabbed a strawberry from the fruit bowl and popped it into his mouth. "I don't know." he said. "Could be a random number. Or could have been in the instructions of the game when I read through them. Can't remember which, to be honest." He tossed the leafy end of the strawberry into the trash and exited.

"Sirius!" Remus called furiously, but Sirius didn't turn around. Remus turned back to the counter and buried his face in his hands.

"What is it?" Lily said, poking her head into the doorway.

"You can't quit the game." Remus said. "There's no quitting. You have to either perform the dare or the consequences within the next twenty-four hours, or it'll force you to do one."

Lily paled. "So that means I've either got to go too far with Peter or..."

"Right." Remus said. "And I can't do either, I can't!"

"Remus..." Lily said.

"No, I can't." Remus said. "This is- I'm not ready for this!"

Lily regarded him calmly. "Look, maybe he's wrong. Maybe the game doesn't actually do that, or it makes you want to, but it can't actually force you. A game that forces you to do things- that's probably illegal."

"But what if it does?" Remus said.

"Well, you don't know that." Lily said. "Sirius could be lying. I mean, Merlin knows I've had some...strange ideas this morning, but it doesn't mean anything. You never know."

Remus didn't respond. He didn't think he could shag Sirius and still keep a healthy distance from him, but if Sirius heard the truth about why Remus couldn't even be friends with him again...it was a lose-lose situation. Either way, he reignited feelings he had worked so hard to keep hidden.

"Look, I have a proposal." Lily said, removing Remus's hands from his face. ""Let's both keep each other on track. I resisted James Potter for seven years, I can go a bit longer...and I'm sure I can lend you some of my strength, too. No offense, Remus, but you can be a bit of a pushover when it comes to Sirius." Remus laughed. "So it's settled. You will have nothing to do with Sirius, and I will not..." She stared into space, licking her lips.

"Lily." Remus said. "Lily."

Lily looked at him. "What?"

"You were gone for a minute."

"Right." She shook her head to clear it. "We can do it, Remus. We're strong people."

The ensuing day was one of the longest Remus had ever experienced. All day, Sirius would not leave him alone- he followed him everywhere and constantly made excuses to touch him or give him looks that ignited the pit of Remus's stomach. Every time they brushed by each other, he felt himself blush to the root of his hair, and all Sirius had to do to make him feel like he needed a cold shower was say his name. That wasn't even mentioning Sirius's dark hair, or his long fingers, or the way his neck arched back when he laughed...and he laughed often at how flustered Remus was getting. Of course, the more flustered Remus got, the more amused Sirius got, and the more amused Sirius got, the less he left Remus alone. By the end of the day, Remus felt shaky and warm every time he and Sirius were even in the same room. James, Peter, and Lily were no help- James and Peter seemed amused by the whole thing, and Lily was too busy growing increasingly addicted to strawberries and staring at Peter's lips to do anything. Remus wished he could just leave the house before things got worse, but he was too shaken up to Apparate, and the Knight Bus did not, as far as he knew, travel in blizzards like the one outside right now. He'd considered taking Sirius's bike, but he didn't know how to work it, so he'd have to ride it with Sirius- yeah, maybe with Sirius behind him, shirtless, so muscles and chest hair and sweaty skin were all pressed against him and his muscular arms were around Remus's shoulders- soaking wet because of the snow-

"Hey, Moony, you sure you're okay?" Sirius said, grinning at him with pearly white teeth. "You seem distracted."

Remus growled in response, stabbing at his mashed potatoes.

"Yeah, Moony, you and Lily have been off all day." James said. "Is something wrong?"

"Of course not." Remus said. "We're just tired from last night, you lot kept us up with your noise."

Sirius lay a hand on his shoulder. "Trouble sleeping? I have a cure for that."

Remus jerked away, hating James and Peter for laughing at his flushed face.

"Come on, lay off him, okay?" James said. "He's had enough of your harassment for today."

"Thank you." said Remus.

"But seriously, Moony, if everything's okay, what's with Lily and the strawberries?" James pointed at Lily, who was slowly squeezing a strawberry to pulp, watching as the juice ran down her fingers.

Remus stood abruptly, not wanting to watch this anymore. Or be in the same room as Sirius. "I've got dishes again tonight."

"Seriously?" said James. "You're like a house-elf."

"I think he's trying to take his mind off of something." said Sirius. Their fingertips brushed as he handed Remus his plate, sending little shocks up Remus's arms. "Remus, if you want to talk about anything...or if there's anything I can do..."

"Shut it." Remus snapped. "Shut it!" His brain lost no time in creating images of what Sirius could do for him.

"Hey, Lily, want to play some cards tonight?" James asked.

Lily looked up like she'd forgotten he was there. "What did you say?"

"He asked if you wanted to play cards with us tonight." Peter said, slowly enunciating each consonant. Lily stared, transfixed.

"Really, Lily, are you okay?" James asked.

Lily looked at him and squeaked- he had a small speck of strawberry jam on his face from dinner, right next to his lips. "James...you..." she said, reaching a trembling hand towards him. "Oh, Remus, I'm sorry. I can't do this."

"What's going on, Lil, are you crazy?" James asked.

"I'll explain later." Lily said. She walked into the kitchen, and a moment later, emerged, carrying the bottle of strawberry syrup from that morning. "Up, James. Now."

James looked like he'd just been told he won the House Cup. "What?"

"Just come with me before I change my mind."

"Lily!" Remus said, but she and James were already gone and he was alone. Well, almost alone. Sirius took a bunch of dishes from his stack.

"Come on." Sirius said. "We can do the dishes together."

"Sirius- no!" Remus said, scrambling after him into the kitchen. "Please don't do this to me. Please cancel the dare. Don't make me do this."

"I can't." Sirius said, dropping his stack of dishes into the sink. "There's a limited time to do so, and it requires both people in the room, but you left so quickly..."

"I'm not fooling around!" said Remus. "I can't go through with either of them!"

"Can't, or won't?" Sirius said. He took Remus's stack of dishes, sending another electric jolt through Remus as their fingers brushed, and bent over the sink to place them in. Remus's traitor eyes followed the movement. "Somehow I think it's that you won't..."

"Sirius!" Remus said. "Please! I'm not ready for this, you know I'm not!"

"Well, why not?" Sirius said, turning to face him. "It's been over six months. I just want us to be friends again. I miss you."

"We can't, okay?" Remus said. "Not for a while. And this is just going to make things worse. Friends don't talk about their feelings, or..."

"Shag each other senseless?" Sirius said. He stepped towards Remus, making Remus's heart pound. "Maybe I don't want to be friends then."

"Sirius..." Remus said, throat dry as bone.

"And maybe, since you're so afraid of opening the possibility of even being friends again, you don't want to be, either."

Remus slapped a hand over his mouth to stop the truth from coming out. Bloody dare!

"Scourgify!" Sirius said, pointing his wand at the dishes in the sink. "There, now they're all clean. Maybe you can join Peter and I in a game of poker. We could even add in some consequences for losing to make it more...interesting."

Remus shook his head frantically, keeping his hand over his mouth. He wasn't sure which was worse- the images Sirius's words were conjuring in his mind or the uncontrollable urge he felt to blurt out the truth. Once he thought he had himself under control again, he removed his hand. "I'm going to bed."

"It won't help!" Sirius called after him.

And of course, he was right. If Remus thought his dreams the night before were bad, it was nothing compared to what his brain provided him with tonight. He barely slept, woken every few minutes by the kissing noises coming from James's room and Peter and Sirius's loud voices downstairs. Finally, at about quarter til midnight, Remus was awoken by deep ache in between his legs. Surprisingly, the house was silent. Remus checked the clock- it was 11:45. Less than twenty minutes...

Remus dully wondered which choice would be forced on him and how. Was he suddenly going to feel compelled to walk into Sirius's room with no shirt on? Would he be forced to listen or talk, to seduce Sirius or to let Sirius do whatever he wanted to him? Sirius had made it fairly clear that he wasn't going to leave Remus alone, no matter what happened.

11:52. He had at most fifteen minutes until his doom. Remus squeezed his eyes shut, trying to concentrate, to think of a way out of the game...the game!

He shot straight up in bed. Yes, the game! If Sirius had left it lying out on the couch (likely, given that it was Sirius), maybe he could look through the instructions and find a loophole! It was a long shot, but it was better than sitting in bed and waiting. Remus leapt up and hurried downstairs. He was careful not to wake anyone- the last thing he needed was interference from a certain someone...

At about midnight, Remus sat on the couch, frantically flipping through the instructions manual. There didn't appear to be a loophole, not one he could easily find. How was this game legal? And even if he did find it, he had less than five minutes to perform an unknown spell...and what if other players were required? Or the orb, which Remus could find nowhere? He was becoming convinced that there was no reversal spell. After all, Sirius had thought ahead enough to set this whole fiasco up, surely he would've make sure it couldn't be reversed.

"Three minutes." Sirius said from the doorway.

Remus leaped up, sending the instructions to the ground. "No, no, get away from me, I-" He attempted to run, but as soon as he reached the door, he was forced back into the room. "What did you do?" he hissed.

Sirius lounged on the couch where Remus had just been, sprawling out his body in a way that made Remus's toes curl. "I didn't do anything." Sirius said. "It's the game. You can't leave until you make a choice."

Remus turned on his heel and tried the other doorway. Predictably, he was forced back. "Sirius," he said, pushing against the invisible barrier, "drop the evil mastermind act. I know you, and I know you probably planned this whole thing out a few days ago."

"Hey! I bought this game a week before the party!" Sirius said. "I mean, I didn't know what I was going to use it for, but...why won't you just talk to me, Moony? I tried, and I tried, and you didn't want to be in the same room as me."

"I didn't want to." Remus said, sitting next to him on the couch. Probably a minute left, if that. "And I still don't want to. Why am I sitting down on this couch? I don't want to be here."

"Remember the dare?" Sirius said. "You're going to do one of two things on this couch, Moony. Do you really hate me so much that you're seriously considering shagging me just to get rid of me?"

"I- I don't hate you, I-" And there it was, the truth was right on the tip of his tongue, and it took all of his willpower and more to keep it from coming out. Instead, he launched himself at Sirius, kissing him as forcefully as he had twenty-four hours earlier.

When he pulled away, Sirius was looking at him, but Remus refused to meet his eyes. Instead, he began planting kisses on Sirius's neck with all the ferocity of his werewolf side. He felt Sirius's pulse quicken and growled with satisfaction- it gave him a sick sort of pleasure to know Sirius was just as affected by this as he was.

Then, Sirius's hand was on the top of his head, stopping him. "No, Remus." Sirius said. "Not like this. Please, don't-"

Remus kissed him again to shut him up, and this time, Sirius responded, hand tightening in Remus's hair. It felt so good, so horribly good to be doing this again with Sirius after months of repressed passion and emotion, that Remus nearly forgot the circumstances until he kicked the Truth or Dare box off the couch while pushing Sirius onto his back. Then, he remembered what he had to do. He unbuttoned a few of the buttons on Sirius's shirt before impatiently pulling the rest of the shirt open, liberating several buttons in the process. Sirius moaned as Remus's hands wandered on Sirius's bare chest and back, slowly travelling down to the beltline. While Remus sucked on his neck, he undid the fly on Sirius's pants- Sirius had always said he was good at multitasking- and pulled them, and his Quaffle boxers, down to his knees. Remus roughly flipped Sirius over onto his stomach, and kicked off his own pajama pants and boxer shorts, gripping Sirius's waist and then-

-and then stopped. Sirius was trembling. No, not just trembling, shaking, with his whole body tensed up as if he were bracing himself. It suddenly hit Remus what he had been about to do, with no lube, no foreplay, no anything, and after Sirius had clearly told him to stop. A wave of revulsion pulsed through him. He was as good as a rapist. He had been about to rape someone he once considered his best friend, and all because he was too immature to just admit the truth.

"Oh my Merlin." Remus said, sitting back on the couch. "Oh, my Merlin."

"Moony?" asked Sirius. If possible, the fear in his voice made Remus feel even worse. Sirius was scared. And why wouldn't he be? His werewolf ex-best friend and ex-boyfriend had just tried to forcefully, painfully rape him.

Remus pulled his pants back on him, silent for a minute. Strangely, he felt no magical compulsion- perhaps the game knew he had made his decision.

"I'm in love with you, Sirius." he said quietly. "I was back then, and I still am. I was going to tell you, but then...we broke up. And that's why I can never be friends with you again, because I know it'll just end up the same way. I wasn't gay before I met you, I'd never been kissed, or liked, or anything-" He twisted his fingers together in the long silence that followed. "And I am so, so, sorry." he added. "I almost- I could have- I'll leave in the morning before you wake up, once I'm settled down enough to Apparate." With that, he stood and quickly exited the room.

He had only been in his bedroom for a few minutes when someone knocked on the door. Remus knew very well who it was, and stayed silent. Why hadn't Sirius given up yet? Why couldn't he just leave Remus alone?

"Open up, Moony." Sirius said.

Remus didn't move. The door was unlocked, unfortunately, which Sirius discovered a moment later. He entered the room and sat next to Remus on the bed.

"Go away, Sirius." Remus said, but he was so tired of saying it that it lacked any conviction.

"Remus." said Sirius, staring at the open doorway. "I- er- felt the same way. Feel the same way. And felt back then. And, well, I guess all that Gryffindor courage couldn't stop me from trying to sabotage the one relationship I was actually serious about."

"You..." Remus said, lost for words.

"I'm in love with you, too, Moony." Sirius said. "And that's why I did it, because I was terrified of what it was doing to me, and I had gotten pissed out of my mind on Firewhiskey, and I swear it was just the one time, Moony, no matter what Marlene Mckinnon says. It was just a stupid mistake. I regret it." He looked down at his hands in his lap. "And about...what happened downstairs...I certainly did nothing to stop that, I rigged the game and I've been tormenting you about it all day."

"But you didn't want me to." Remus said.

"No, I was hoping you'd be your usual stubborn self and do whichever one you thought I didn't want you to do." Sirius said. "But I was still forcing you into it, in a way. It was either that, or something even worse, wasn't it?"

"I...maybe." Remus said, resting his chin on his hand. "It was either that or have an adult conversation for once in my life." He chuckled wryly. "Oh, Merlin, this is all messed up, isn't it? We are morons."

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, we're worse at this than Wormtail."

"Or Prongs, before Lily apparently was Confunded." Remus said. It felt good to laugh after the awful day. "Wonder how they're doing?"

"Well, considering neither of them have left their room since dinner..."

"Oh, Merlin, that's horrible too, isn't it?" Remus said. "Lily just wanted to take it slow..."

"Yes, in retrospect, that game of Truth or Dare may have been a bad idea." Sirius said, completely straight faced.

Remus began laughing again, lying back on the bed. After a moment, Sirius joined in, and they stayed like that for a few minutes- whenever one would stop laughing, the other would giggle and start them both up again.

Finally, James stopped them by banging on the wall between their rooms. "Oi! Keep it down, you two! I'm glad you're making up, but some of us are trying to sleep!"

After a few more chuckles, Remus and Sirius subsided into silence, neither knowing what to say or do next. Finally, Sirius said, "So, are we?"

"What?" asked Remus.

"Are we making up?" Sirius said.

Remus bit his lip. "Sirius, I want to, but after today, and tonight...I think we should be just friends for a while. Take things slowly, build up trust again. I'm sorry."

"All right." Sirius said, and kissed him. The kiss was unlike none of the others Remus had ever experienced- it was soft and almost romantic if Sirius was capable of that.

"What are you doing?" Remus asked, after it was over.

"Friends sometimes kiss each other, don't they?" Sirius said, grinning as he propped himself up on one elbow. "Especially friends who are in love with each other."

"That explains you and Prongs, then." Remus said, and Sirius shoved him off the bed.

When he rolled onto his back, he was surprised to find Sirius standing above him, extending a hand to help him up. For once, he resisted the temptation to pull Sirius down with him. "Thanks." he said, straightening his clothing.

"Least I could after all this." Sirius said. "And thanks for not pulling me down with you."

"Least I could do." Remus replied lightly. Despite everything, he did feel light- his friendship with Sirius was restored, and he had deposited all the baggage he'd been dragging around for months. They weren't through with their issues, not by a long shot, but Remus felt hopeful that they could work through it and maybe things would get better eventually.

Sirius seemed to be thinking along similar lines. "So...friends?" he said.

"Friends." Remus said. "For now."

Even though Remus was no longer under the effects of the game, the memory of Sirius's salacious smirk was enough to haunt his dreams for many nights to come.


End file.
